Having been coaching small business owners since 1997 I’ve had the pleasure (and pain) of working with over 2200 business owners helping them to grow, build, fix or improve their businesses.

Looking back on those 19 years, I’ve seen a consistent pattern: Smart Business Owners always hire Advisors or Coaches and achieve success while Others… don’t and won’t!

But Smart Business Owners don’t “need” a coach …

There is a simple question I ask every small business owner that lets me know if they will make it as a self employed person or as a business owner:

“If I paid you the same amount of money as you will make from your business this year, to do exactly what you do now, you simply need to quit your business and do the work for me instead … do you want to take the job?” The smart, driven, committed business owners always say NO and they become cleints!

The “wannabes” always say YES, and quite frankly should go get a job because their goal is to make a certain amount of money, not build a business. That approach is typically not enough to keep them driven and motivated to achieve success.

Smart business owners know:

They are committed and passionate about their business … far beyond the money

They always want an objective opinion and new growth ideas to continue to grow

They are committed to continued learning and improvement – and are willing to do the work

They are smart enough to understand they know a lot … but don’t have all the answers

They don’t want to waste time by reinventing the wheel

They want someone they trust to hold them accountable and bounce ideas off

They understand the value they can gain from other’s experience

They know they must implement their coaches ideas if they want to improve their results

They want to be pushed out of their comfort zone and try new things

They must dedicate time every week to work ON the next strategy if they want to improve

… and in my experience, the folks that are in that mindset don’t “need” a coach, they “want” a coach!

The “Others” believe:

They just need to find a way to get a few more clients and everything will be great

They know exactly what they need to do and just need to go do it – everything will be better in 3 months

Their business is different and no one understands it – and they don’t want to work that hard anyway

They have all the answers or they can always go to Google!

They can figure it out themselves (reinvent the wheel)

They don’t like or need accountability because they want to do it their way

Everyone else is out to scam them so they trust no one

If they just keep doing what they have been doing eventually things will get better

I don’t need to change … everyone else does, but not me

If I just work faster and longer hours I’ll get there

… and again in my experience, these folks either fail continuously or simply burn out.

These folks do “need” a coach but they don’t “want” one and won’t hire one!

I must admit, there’s been times in my career that I have been in both of these categories. Times when I’m driven, motivated, looking for answers, continuously learning and improving and guess what? It works! But there’s also been time when I thought I knew it all, I was the one with the vision and no one understood what I was doing so there was no one I could or should go to, it was up to me to figure everything out … and that has never led me to success!

I don’t know which category you see yourself in at the time of reading this, but if you are at a point in your business where you believe it is time to get some objective input and you “want” an experienced business coach to train you on new ideas and help get you there faster, I am happy to sit with you and get clear on where you want to go with your business and explore how I can help in a complimentary business analysis meeting.